1. Will the Colts offensive line take away the Chiefs’ only line of defense?

Kansas City’s defense has only one card to play, one realistic hope to shut down the Colts offense.

Get to Andrew Luck.

The Chiefs pass rush tied the Pittsburgh Steelers for the NFL lead with 52 sacks, and they did it largely by relying on their front, reducing the need for defensive coordinator Bob Sutton to dial up the blitz. Four players — Dee Ford and Justin Houston on the edge, Chris Jones and Allen Bailey on the interior — combined for 43.5 sacks, and Kansas City recorded at least one sack in every game.

Kansas City’s problem is simple: No team in the NFL was better at protecting the quarterback than the Colts. A revamped Indianapolis offensive line gave up just 18 sacks, turned in a clean sheet seven times and kept getting better as the season progressed, allowing just eight sacks in 12 games, including another shutout in the wild-card round against J.J. Watt, Jadeveon Clowney and the Houston Texans.

And the Colts are even better when they have all their starters available, as they will on Saturday. Indianapolis’ preferred starting five of Anthony Castonzo, Quenton Nelson, Ryan Kelly, Mark Glowinski and Braden Smith still hasn’t given up a sack when everybody’s healthy.

Taking the pass rush away from the Chiefs allows the Colts to attack a defense that has no other answers. A team that sacks the quarterback as often as the Chiefs should finish in the top 10 of the NFL’s defensive standings, but Kansas City finished 31st in the NFL in total defense, 24th in scoring and allowed more than 400 yards a whopping 10 times.

If the Chiefs can’t get to the quarterback, Kansas City might as well be defenseless.

With the exception of a hiccup against the New York Giants, the Colts’ running game has been on a rampage over the last four months, rushing for 150 yards or more against the Texans (3rd in the NFL in yards-per-carry allowed), Cowboys (5th) and Titans (15th). Marlon Mack has racked up 440 yards over the same span and given Luck the kind of support he’s never had before.

Mack’s five games of 100 yards or more this season are more than Colts running backs have recorded in the last six seasons combined, and they’ve done it against some of the league’s best run defenses.

The Chiefs are nowhere near the caliber of those defenses.

Kansas City allowed opponents to rip off 5.0 yards per carry this season, the second-worst mark in the NFL this season, and the Chiefs allowed seven teams to rush for more than 150 yards, including three of their final five games.

Establishing Mack early and often is likely a big part of the Colts’ game plan. If Indianapolis is running it well, the Colts can control the clock and limit Mahomes’ possessions, take the wind out of the Kansas City pass rush and force the Chiefs to respect the run, simultaneously leaving them vulnerable to Luck’s play-action passing.

Frank Reich’s goal is always to establish the run, and if the Colts can do it again on Saturday, it might be the key to pulling off the upset.

As bad as Kansas City’s defense has been this season, the Chiefs have done a good job creating takeaways. Kansas City forced 27 turnovers, good enough to tie for eighth in the NFL, and a turnover hurts more against the Chiefs than just about anybody else because it puts the ball back in Mahomes’ hands.

And the Colts can be prone to turnovers at times. Indianapolis turned it over 24 times in the regular season, a figure that left them tied for 22nd in the NFL.

Against the Chiefs, though, limiting turnovers might be as simple as stopping this defense’s only real weapon. Kansas City’s pass rush creates mistakes — the Chiefs made 15 interceptions — and the team’s two brilliant edge rushers, Ford and Houston, are excellent at stripping the ball. Ford tied Watt for the NFL lead with seven forced fumbles, and Houston added five more.

For the Indianapolis offense, the mission is simple.

Win the line of scrimmage, and this Chiefs defense is there for the taking.